Reform UK activists have been urged to divert from the Greater Manchester mayoral byelection to support Nigel Farage’s “fake” contest 250 miles away in Clacton.
A WhatsApp message shared with party members in north-west England said: “The message could not be more clear. We now need all of our fantastic activists, branch officers and councillors to come and help us in Clacton.”
The text, seen by the Guardian, urges members to complete a volunteering form for the Essex byelection, adding: “We look forward to seeing you in Clacton.”
Reform UK had hoped to claim its biggest scalp yet in Greater Manchester, which is electing a new mayor after Andy Burnham won the Makerfield byelection to set him on a path to No 10.
Farage’s party won heavily across the region of 2 million voters in the May local elections, gaining 106 seats, and polling indicates it is narrowly behind Labour.
However, its campaign appears to have been upended by Farage’s decision to call a snap byelection in his Clacton constituency amid questions over his financial interests.
Labour’s candidate, Bev Craig, is the favourite to win the Greater Manchester byelection, which will be the biggest ever held in Britain, on 30 July. The Clacton contest is expected to take place a week later, on 6 August.
A Reform UK councillor who received the WhatsApp message, sent on Wednesday, said the party was “desperate” to show support for its embattled leader, even at the expense of surrendering the chance to win the mayoralty.
They said it suggested the party “don’t believe they can win” in Burnham’s back yard and that would give further ammunition to claims it had “a woman problem”, as campaigners are diverted from helping its Greater Manchester candidate, Sian Astley, a local businesswoman and television personality.
A Reform spokesperson said: “The WhatsApp message in question was shared with every single Reform UK branch chair across the country. It was not targeted at one specific area or region.
“We are taking both byelections incredibly seriously. Our campaign plans for the Greater Manchester mayor byelection remain unchanged.”
Farage announced on Tuesday he was standing down from the seat he has held since the 2024 general election and would put himself forward again in what he has sought to portray as a “people versus the establishment” contest.
However, his strategy appears to have backfired as his main rivals announced within hours they would boycott the byelection.
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At present, only the novelty candidate Count Binface and the former actor Laurence Fox, leader of the rightwing Reclaim party, have announced they will stand against Farage.
Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, described the Clacton contest as a “fake byelection”, while Labour called it a “circus” and the Lib Dems billed it as “Farage’s vanity project”.
Labour has told activists that the threat from Reform is “real” in Greater Manchester after the “cataclysmic” local elections eight weeks ago, when Labour lost 108 councillors.
Reform won 106 seats overall, including all but one of the 25 up for grabs in Wigan and 18 out of 19 in Tameside, once solidly Labour areas. The Green party, which also made significant gains in May, is believed to be in third place in the Greater Manchester byelection.
